1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cosmetic, particularly to a powdery cosmetic, comprising a blend of a perfume and an inorganic pigment in which the perfume retains its odor for long periods of time, and to a process for preparing the cosmetic.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some perfumes incorporated in conventional cosmetics containing inorganic pigments emit a fragrant odor just after incorporation, but often change in odor with time. This tendency is remarkable when perfumes are directly incorporated into inorganic pigments, and changes in odor occur over several months or in some cases at the earliest in several days after perfuming. This is because the perfume on the surface of a powder easily contacts the air, and tends to be oxidatively decomposed by the activity (catalytic activity) of the powder itself. Some measures taken in the past against this problem are:
(1) To cause the perfume to be absorbed onto fine particles of silica or a metal soap powder having a relatively low activity, and then add it to a pigment base.
(2) To coat the pigment with a metal soap (for example, as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 15394/70).
(3) To avoid the use of perfumes which are susceptible to change.
These measures, however, do not offer a fundamental solution to the problem, but only help to prolong the time until changes occur in the odor of the perfume.
Furthermore, some kinds of perfume still change in odor within very short periods of time, and are therefore useless for cosmetics. For example, a bergamot oil, a perfume of the citrus type, cannot be used for powdery cosmetics, and the manufacturers are forced to neglect the taste for odors of general consumers and to use other more stable perfumes.
Microencapsulated perfumes could be used if the only purpose is to increase the stability with time of perfumes incorporated in inorganic pigments. However, complicated process steps are required to produce perfume-containing microcapsules and the cost of production becomes high. Furthermore, a high level of technique is required, for example, to adjust the wall thickness of the microcapsules so that they will be surely destroyed upon use. Accordingly, the microencapsulation of perfumes has been applied to only very limited special uses.